


A Thousand Miles Away

by Halfblood_Demigods



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Dina (The Last of Us)-centric, F/F, Feels, Gen, Maybe - Freeform, One Shot, Open to Interpretation, Past Character Death, Post-Game(s), The Last of Us Spoilers, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:00:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26701045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halfblood_Demigods/pseuds/Halfblood_Demigods
Summary: Ellie left Dina on her own on the farm that day.What happened to Dina while Ellie was gone?
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Dina/Jesse (The Last of Us), Past Relationships - Relationship
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	A Thousand Miles Away

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for the support on my last fic it means the world to me. I came up with this idea late last night and it just demanded to be written, so here it is. I hope you all enjoy.

When Ellie left, Dina’s world fell apart. 

The day it happened Dina didn’t move for hours, she just stood there sobbing staring at the door hoping Ellie would come back and beg her forgiveness.  Ellie didn't come back that day.

The shock still hadn’t set in the next day when Dina was folding some laundry, and she saw one of Ellie’s shirts, a simple flannel, nothing special. The sight of that flannel cause Dina to cry, until she woke JJ up and had to go back to living her life, alone.

Ellie didn’t come back that day either.

A few days later Dina heard JJ crying from upstair, so she shouted out,

“Can you get him El-“ before she realized Ellie wasn’t there and probably would never be there again. That realization caused Dina to rip Ellie out of the picture that they had taken of their little family. 

Dina spent hours trying to find the stuff to fix it, she realized that night that things are much easier to break than to put back together.

It was 2 weeks after Ellie left that Dina realized she would have to go out hunting, either leaving JJ alone at the house or risking bring him with her. In the end she ended up killing a sheep, as not to risk the situation, but that was the moment Dina realized that the two of them couldn’t stay at the farm anymore, not without Ellie.

It was 3 weeks after Ellie left with no sign of return when Dina finally told someone what happened. She had taken JJ and rode into Jackson, hoping to talk to Jesse’s parents about taking them up on that offer to move in, when she was stopped by Maria. Dina broke down in her arms, not caring who saw and told her everything. Maria made sure that Dina got to Jesse’s parents safely and then marched off. She didn’t tell Dina where she was going, but Dina didn’t need to be told. Not when the news that Tommy was planning on leaving town made it’s way around the next morning.

It was a month after Ellie left when Dina left the farm for good. She didn't cry all day as they made many trips, carrying as much stuff back to Jackson as possible. She didn't cry when she packed away the furniture they had picked out together, she didn’t cry when she found the picture Ellie had drawn of JJ a few days after he was born. She didn't even cry when she made the decision to leave Ellie’s stuff in her room. No one needed it now. No, she didn’t cry until was back in her new bed in Jesse’s parents house, thinking about all the things that should have been.

It was two months after Ellie left when a new group of people came in, claiming to have seen a girl with a tattoo, who said she was heading to Santa Barbara. They said they meet the girl in Utah and she had pointed them here, as a safe haven if they could make it. Dina knew she should have felt relieved to know the Ellie was at least alive a few weeks ago, but the knowledge just made her worry more for Ellie’s safety. 

It was 3 months after Ellie left that JJ began to crawl. Dina was so excited for him and for a just moment she forgot about all her worries and anxieties. But then she looked over to where Ellie should have been sitting cheering him on as well and everything came back to her. Suddenly a happy moment became sad and all Dina could wish for was that Ellie could be here.

It was exactly 3 months and 3 days after Ellie left that Dina started back on work duty. She wasn’t going out on patrol anymore, she couldn’t even hear the sound of gun shots without being sent back to Seattle. So she started back at the little medical center they had in Jackson. They were always short staffed as the outbreak had obviously caused a lack of trained physicians and were always willing to accept help. Dina like working there, liked being able to contribute to Jackson again.

It was 4 months after Ellie left when they found the body in the woods. The report came in that they had found a body along the patrol route, killed by some infected, about a mile outside of Jackson. Looking back Dina knew it wasn’t rational but at the time she had fallen on her knees and sobbed. She thought it was Ellie. She didn’t stop crying until Maria came and said it wan’t her, the girl had no tattoo. Dina didn’t sleep that night. Or the next.

5 months after Ellie left, Dina talked to Cat. Dina never liked Cat very much but she needed to talk to someone who knew and loved Ellie, and everyone else who fit that description was either dead or avoiding her. Dina and Cat meet out on the bench near the playground, where they sat for hours and talked. Talked about Ellie, about Jesse, about life in general. Dina couldn’t say if she felt better after the conversation, but she did begin to socialize a bit more afterwards.

It was 5 months and 2 weeks after Ellie left when JJ first said his first words. It was Mama. It was the day before he turned 10 months old. Dina was so happy for him, he had said it at dinner in front of her and Jesse’s parents. Dina had still excused herself to go to the bathroom, where she cried for all the other people that should be there to celebrate with them. Jesse, who he may have called dada. Joel who would have been over the moon to have an adoptive grandkid. And most of all Ellie, who he would have called mama too.

It was 6 months after Ellie left when Dina spent almost an entire day without thinking of Ellie. It had been a busy day at the clinic; a new group of settlers had arrived and they were busy patching them up from their journey, all day. It was the largest group Jackson had gotten in almost a year. 8 people all coming from the Denver quarantine zone. They reported that while the QZ was still military occupied, the military was becoming increasingly strict leading to many citizens revolting. They said that they expected the zone to fall within the next few months. Dina’s thoughts were filled with taking in this information. It wasn’t until Dina was looking at the map of all the QZ trying to figure out which ones were still standing, thinking of what Ellie had told her life was like there, when she realized, that was the first time she thought of Ellie all day. She felt guilty for the rest of the week.

It was 6 weeks and 2 days after Ellie left when they celebrated Rosh Hashanah. Dina had spent the few days prior to the holiday getting prepared, but nothing could prepare her for the loneliness that passed through her as she said the prayers before sundown and Ellie wasn’t there to stand with her. 10 days later on Yom Kippur, Dina fasted for the first time. In the past she was to young to have to fast and when she had reached the age of maturity she was already living in Jackson, she ad to much to do and it wasn’t safe for her to fast so she never did. Last year she had wanted to fast but she was 7 months pregnant and it wasn’t safe for herself or the baby. But this year she had no excuse so she fasted. She felt comforted by the act. She also lit her candles, one for the holiday and one for all the people she had lost. Her parents, who’s deaths had come when she was almost to young to remember. Her sister who’s death haunted her to this day. Jesse who should have gotten to be there for his son. And one for Joel, who died because he was protecting the one Dina loved the most. She did not light on for Ellie

Seven months after Ellie left came news from settlers. They had said they had come from a camp out in Santa Barbara, where they were kept as prisoners by a group calling themselves the Rattlers. They said they were freed by a girl who had a tattoo on her arm and a bite on her hand; that she was seeking a girl named Abby. Dina saw how the news gave Maria hope, but for some reason it just made her more certain. Ellie wasn’t coming back.

8 months after Ellie left, JJ celebrated his first birthday. Dina knew it was supposed to be a happy day but for her it wasn’t. She couldn’t stop thinking about that day one year ago. They hadn’t know if JJ was going to be a girl or a boy so they had picked out two names, Talia Anna if it was a girl or Jesse Joel if it was a boy. The moment that he was born and the doctor had said it was a boy, when Dina saw the look in Ellie’s eyes, she knew they had made the right choice in deciding to name him in honor of the two people who would have loved to see him the most. Dina smiled as she watched JJ sit in the lap of his paternal grandparents as she slipped out of the room to be alone with her memories.

It was more than 9 months after Ellie left when she returned to Jackson. When Dina heard the news that they had a new arrival on their way to the clinic, she didn’t think twice. She was long past hoping every new arrival was Ellie. For the last month they had been getting many new arrivals from the Denver QZ which had been abandoned by the military only a week after the group who warned them left. Dina was working late most nights tending to wounds of those who had traveled from far to get to one of the few safe havens left. When the girl walked into the door of the clinic doors Dina didn’t recognize her at first. She had cuts all up and down her arms and was holding her side, her left hand cover by her right. But it was Ellie. No questions about it, it was her. Dina dropped the papers she was holding and stood there, staring at her. 

It was 9 months, 1 week and 3 days ago when Dina last heard Ellie speak. It was 9 months, 1 week and 3 days ago when Dina’s world fell apart. 

It was today when it finally started to come back together, when Ellie said, “I'm Sorry"

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it all the way to the end, thank you! It means so much that someone would want to read my work. If you found any spelling or grammer issues feel free to let me know in the comments.  
> If you want to check out more of my thoughts about The Last of Us and other fandoms I am apart of on my tumblr @halblood-demigods.


End file.
